Abortion Rights Blog

EVENT: Abortion Rights Celebration in Edinburgh #Celebrate67

Scottish Pro-choice Campaigners Gather in Edinburgh

to Celebrate the 1967 Abortion Act

#celebrate67

Event on Saturday 25th April 2015 will take place opposite anti-abortion activist protests

Pro-choice supporters from across Scotland will unite on the streets of Edinburgh this April to celebrate the 47th anniversary of the UK’s Abortion Act and counter that day’s protests by anti-abortion activists.

Members of Abortion Rights Edinburgh will be joined by supporters from across Scotland to hold a peaceful, positive celebration of the Act on Lothian Road on the pavement outside the Usher Hall from 11.00 to 13:00 on Saturday 25th April.

The date marks 47 years since the enactment of the 1967 Abortion Act (on 27th April 1968).

It has become a tradition for vocal anti-abortion groups to hold protests that day calling for the abolition of the legislation that paved the way for access to safe, legal abortion and saved women’s lives.

Jane Carnall, organiser of the event and member of Abortion Rights Edinburgh, said: ‘Every year, human rights campaigners show up and stand in a line down the other side of Lothian Road, on the Usher Hall side, and express our joy and satisfaction that in 1968, a major piece of human rights legislation became law, and took a key aspect of healthcare for women out of the hands of criminals and unqualified practitioners, and into the hands of properly-qualified doctors, nurses, and the NHS.’

The group invites all pro-choice supporters to attend. Supporters can also take part online using the hashtag #celebrate67 on Twitter and creating content in support of abortion rights that can be shared on the day of the event.

Organisations that support abortion rights are also invited to contact ARCScotlandOnline@gmail.comto issue a short statement in support of the celebration for sharing online.

Eva Stalker, an Abortion Rights Committee Scotland member who will travel from Glasgow to take part, said: ‘The overwhelming majority of people in the UK support women’s right to access to safe, legal abortion, and it’s important we counter the small but vocal minority who want to remove that right.

This celebration is about making the pro-choice majority visible on the streets, and about reminding people that there is still a lot of work to do to defend and extend our current legislation on abortion.’